Going back to lab?

[doc700]

Hello.  Are any experimentalists currently returning to lab or planning to do so shortly?  What arrangements are being made on your campus?  My campus is supposed to go back -- we had been hearing June 1 but now is pushed back...  It seems like it will be very low density at first at least and I'm eager to hear how this looked for other groups.  How did you continue to manage your group and have communication when everyone was working off hours in shifts?  Any universities have plans that allow for more than 1 person/room safely?  Its really tricky on my campus.

[bio-nonymous]

Our standard is 1 person allowed in the lab per 250 square feet of floor space, + all the social distancing (6 feet spacing between people), + all the PPE stuff, + constant disinfecting of surfaces after use. Any lab under 500 square feet can have 1 person, under 750, 2 people. That about covers the two sizes of rooms in our building...tough scheduling for larger groups that have multiple labs with different equipment in different rooms. Masks must be worn at all times other than in private offices with the doors closed.

[doc700]

My university is permitting only 1 person/room regardless of room size.  For my group this is okay as we do happen to have a number of small rooms.  Some of my colleagues have a single ~1000 sqrt ft lab which they are only permitting one person per time in. 

We are still waiting for the green light to return but just very anxious how this will all play out with our ability to maintain/service large instruments without two sets of hands, stay in touch as a group when everyone is working off hours etc.  Of course very excited to get back to absolutely any research but still waiting on a lot of details.

[att_mtt]

We will have similar rules - 1 person per room with staggered schedules, disinfecting and wearing masks whenever not alone in one room.
There is no final date on research restart yet, I would think that this happens in June but it is not necessarily clearly communicated.
I am somewhat nervous about student that forgot lab routines in the 3 months of downtime - retraining them is somewhat hard, we will most likely try to do that via video.

[Hibush]

Similar rules to bio-nonymous. Rooms have much too varied geometries for the one-person-per-room standard. Square feet based on the layout of a particular room is the principle.

The big challenge is changing protocols. If you have the freezer in one room, the centrifuge in another and the workstation in a third, then you can't have a protocol where you move from one to the other routinely. We'll be rearranging rooms and "re-choreographing" common procedures.

Speaking of the arts, singing is apparently as big a biohazard as coughing and sneezing. So none of that in the lab.

[fizzycist]

Is one person per lab even safe in some fields? If handling hazardous materials/chemicals or intense lasers or whatever, I wonder if having a second person around at least some of the time would be worth the small increase in covid transmission probability? At my place we are not open yet but plan is for 1 person per 250 sqft. which would usually mean at least 2 ppl in each lab.

[doc700]

No, one person is not safe in my opinion.  We have various hazards -- acids, cryogens, flame (not much more powerful than a BBQ lighter but still).

I'm still not clear on how this is supposed to work.  We proposed another person could be monitoring for an adjacent room on a video feed but that is a bit tricky.  I was told that cameras broke some sort of privacy laws so I couldn't install them, even for a student to turn on temporarily while they want to do a specific task.  I think we are going to have the student bring a phone or laptop and live stream the process to a "virtual buddy" who calls 911 if there is an issue or the video feed cuts out.  I'm not sure how this is functionally different than the camera but seems to be the settled solution.  We also do have glass windows in most doors (except fire proof ones) so most of the space someone could monitor from the hall?

[Beebee]

We are working on getting back in - our SOPs, prepared by each PI, are trying to make their way through multiple people somewhere in the bureaucracy. Numbers going around include 10% of the research workforce (but the denominator is unclear), 500 square feet/person (more do-able), 12 ft distance (how I am supposed to train my new post-doc with them standing 12 ft apart is a mystery), etc. One person per room is a serious safety hazards in many labs including mine, but keeping 12 ft is perfectly feasible so hopefully it will be approved. PPE is another story - it is unsafe to wear absorbent face masks when doing certain tasks (e.g. working with toxic/volatile chemicals); we are campaigning for face shields if possible. Plus lots of disinfecting etc. It is pretty stressful even to plan, and it is extremely time consuming too - but I and most of my students are looking forward to be able to do at least something again! I hear from colleagues in other states that it was a lot easier for them to get permissions and get work done.

[mythbuster]

I work at a compass point Master's level institution, my field is with the biomedical realm. My husband, Mr. Buster, is the lab manager for a basic research lab at the major (global name) academic style medical center down the road. Here is where each of us are. We are in a red state in the Southeast- if governing politics influence things
   At Compass Point U, the importance of research is an ongoing debate. Therefore, it's no surprise that we are still waiting for official "guidance". There was a rumor that we would be allowed some limited return to labs by June 1, but we are still waiting for word. A very limited number of people are allowed in to tend to essential cell lines and animals. Additionally, I wrangled permission for my overdue-to-graduate grad student to come in and do some work.  But the entire team of undergrads who normally populate my lab are all waiting for a green light to be able to come in.  I doubt that anyone is actually policing this, so it may be that some labs have more folks doing things than I know about- I haven't been into lab in at least 3 weeks.
   In contrast, Mr. Buster is at work as I write this. They started resuming near normal activity towards the end of May. They all wear masks the entire time they are in lab, and try to limit the number of people in the lab at once to 4 or fewer. If you are just doing computer work, you are expected to do it at home. A big part of the decision by Mr. Buster's employer was about $$$. They wanted to resume activities, both research and clinical, to get the $$$ stream moving again. Everyone at this institution has taken a pay cut.

These two institutions are less than 5 miles apart from each other. Therefore my takeaway message is- there are no sweeping rules. It all depends on how important your admins think research (and the $$ that may come with it) is to the institution.

[bio-nonymous]

It all depends on how important your admins think research (and the $$ that may come with it) is to the institution.

^This!

Myself and some other colleagues have been working in the lab the entire time since the shutdown on "critical research", which went through a vetting system and required numerous plans of action to mitigate risk. Most all the students/postdocs were sent home campus-wide at spring break with very limited exceptions (had to be deemed critical mandatory employees with strict guidelines). The emphasis for what is allowed to happen ("critical research") and who gets to work is/was, in order: 1) covid19-related research, 2) research that cannot be stopped without incurring a number of loosely defined VERY bad outcomes (losing: $$$, cell lines, transgenic mouse colonies, etc.), 3) Sponsored research or research needed for preliminary data for imminent grant proposals; and/or research needed to get grad students and postdocs out on time, 4) Internally funded or non-sponsored research. So far #4 is still not yet allowed. This is for basic sciences, clinical research is still not allowed and they are working on guidelines for that for future implementation. Bottom line is that the administration has actually been trying with some success to keep everything going through the pandemic without crippling the overall research productivity (if you can work at home, you are expected to work at home and come to the lab only if absolutely necessary), but we are just limping along-I do need to give "them" some kudos for effort! Of course the response has been chaotic and constantly changing, but this was new territory. Looking back I am in no way as annoyed as I was earlier while getting numerous conflicting messages about research, often one after another from different administrators. I am giving them a break at this point.

As far as PPE and social distancing goes, we had to have a covid19 mitigation plan approved before anyone could return to the lab. IMHO, Strong PPE with good SOPs may justify not social distancing for some tasks (think p100 half face respirators or n95s on both individuals plus face shields, goggles, gloves, gowns; and good post-procedure disinfection) requiring more than one person or for critical training exercises, and is written in my plan-similar to BSL3 level protocol. It makes everything a big challenge to get stuff done of course. I have a friend who works in a BSL4 lab and he says it takes 4 times longer to do anything because of, necessary, safety protocols.